May and June are about rowing championships, but April is when teams find the chemistry that leads them to gold medals. For all four of Princeton crews, April has seen some significant successes, and each squad is hoping to conclude the month with a victorious regatta this weekend. The heavyweight men and both lightweight teams will race at Lake Carnegie this weekend, while the open women will head to Dartmouth to race for The Class of 1984 Trophy.

At Lake Carnegie, the morning will open with the Tiger men’s heavyweights, who will take on Yale and Cornell for the Carnegie Cup. The Bulldogs won the Cup last year with a 2.3-second win over Princeton, although the Tigers bring the top national ranking of the three teams into the weekend. Princeton is currently ranked No. 5, while Yale is 10th and Cornell is 13th. The Tigers are coming off a very close loss to Harvard on the Charles River, but they have recorded significant success in the early part of the 2008 season.

The top-ranked women’s lightweights will resume arguably the best rivalry in the sport when Princeton takes on Radcliffe in the second set of races. Princeton is unbeaten on the season and earned nine of the 11 first-place votes in the recent poll, while Radcliffe is ranked a solid third in the poll. These two rivals compete for the Class of 1999 Cup, which Princeton won by more than 10 seconds last year. The Tigers are undefeated this season.

The No. 2 Princeton men’s lightweights, fresh off unseating two-time defending national champion Cornell last weekend, will try to defend the Wood-Hammond Trophy against No. 8 Penn in the final set of home races this weekend. The Tigers are unbeaten since a close season-opening loss at No. 3 Navy, which included the exciting win over the Big Red during the Platt Cup regatta last weekend. A win would help set up an exciting Goldthwait Cup weekend against current No. 1 Yale and No. 6 Harvard.

The Princeton open women are on the road in Hanover, N.H., where they will compete for the Class of 1984 Trophy against Dartmouth and Penn. Princeton is currently ranked seventh in the country and will look to bounce back after falling in a tight three-team race against No. 2 Yale and No. 5 Tennessee last weekend.

HOME SCHEDULE

8:45 Men’s HW 2F
9:00 Men’s HW 3V
9:15 Men’s HW 1F
9:30 Men’s HW 2V
9:45 Men’s HW 1V

10:00 Women’s LW 1V
10:15 Women’s LW 2V
10:30 Women’s LW 4s

11:00 Men’s LW 1F
11:15 Men’s LW 1V